


TM45: Attract

by driedupwishes



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Pining Levi, Pokémon Trainer AU, eren has a cubone b/c obvs reasons, gym leader levi, pokmon trainer eren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Oh no</i>, Levi thought, fingers twitching. <i>Please, if there is anyone out there who loves me, please tell me it’s not-</i></p><p>Levi looked up as far as he could, leaning a little bit away from his full-body plaster against the rock wall. The sun was in his eyes, but there was no mistaking the figure leaning over the edge of the cliff, extending him a hand down. Bright green eyes met his, eyes he had only seen up close one other time.</p><p><i>Yep</i>, he thought, half tempted to let go of the cliff and plummet to his demise. <i>It’s him.</i></p><p>The cute pokemon trainer he’d been crushing on for the last month like a fucking creep was hunched over trying to help him. Levi wanted to die, because the sun was framing him like a halo and also casting delicious light on the way his shoulders and arms were built of fucking muscle. He was even more mouth-wateringly, knee-knockingly attractive up close.</p><p>  <i>Fuck me.</i></p><p>“I’m gonna kill that fucking Jigglypuff,” Levi blurted out, like a complete fucking lunatic, right in the trainer’s face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	TM45: Attract

**Author's Note:**

  * For [treeofworlds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treeofworlds/gifts).



Levi ran a hand through his hair as he exited the arena, grimacing at the sticky sweat that had settled against his scalp. He wasn’t sure how he always got so nasty from battling a few over eager kids, but without fail toward the end of the day he was always in desperate need of a shower. A shower which he was free to have, as soon as he made sure the rest of the gym was empty and that the front door was locked. He glanced up as he entered the waiting room to the side of the arena, scanning the area only to come to a dead halt a few feet past the door.

It was empty, yes.

But it wasn’t supposed to be.

“Oh, you have _got_ to be _shitting me_ ,” Levi groaned, ducking to make sure the fucking thing wasn’t hiding under the table. It wasn’t. There was nothing under the table. Fucking. Nothing. “That stupid fucking piece of shit-“

A nudge against his thigh had him shutting up almost immediately. He knew from experience that the Talonflame’s nudges could turn into pecks within a second and that her pecks could knock him on his ass and draw blood without her even trying. He glanced down at his oldest companion only to realize the big beaked seed-brain was giving him the most disapproving look in her arsenal, which was more effective than any of the attacks she used against the challengers of his gym.

“What,” he said, crossing his arms. She huffed, her chest rising and falling, feathers ruffling as she did so to make it clear she thought he was being irrational. Which he wasn’t. This was a completely rational reaction, thank you very fucking much. He was half tempted to gesture at the empty room and start shouting, but in the end he hadn’t won an argument against the damn pokemon at his side since he had caught her as a Fletchling and the dramatics weren’t worth the effort.

“Urgh,” he groaned instead. “Come on. Let’s go pick up Houndoom and track that goddamn thing down-“

His Talonflame clipped Levi’s shoulder slightly as she took to the air, knocking him aside and cutting him off. He staggered against the strength in her wings, glaring at the way her smug caw echoed in the empty gym.

“Definitely fed her too many treats,” he muttered, rubbing his shoulder as he reentered the arena floor. He caught sight of the edge of her tail feathers as she swooped out one of the top windows and sighed, rolling his eyes. “Turned her into a fucking diva and now look what I’ve got to put up with…”

He was still grumbling under his breath about his spoiled pokemon by the time he found his way out of the fucking confusing ass maze of a gym he ran. The gym leader before him had commissioned the design and despite nearly two years of non-stop complaining he hadn’t been allowed to redesign it yet. He deeply regretted not kicking the previous leader when he had the chance, since the idiot had thought breezy wind ducts spiraled up in a fucking hellbound maze was a clever idea for a gym.

It wasn’t fucking clever, okay. It was annoying. Highly annoying.

(Like Erwin, the bastard who had suggested he be gym leader. Fucking Erwin.)

Levi came out of the opening, dusting off his clothes as he straightened. He cast a glare at the shortcut slide that was right next to the entrance, flipping it off childishly before turning back toward the front door. He could have just taken the slide down, it was true, but honestly the slide gave him the worse fucking wedgie. And as gym leader he shouldn’t have to put up with wedgies given to him by his own fucking gym. It just wasn’t done.

“Houndoom,” Levi called as he exited the building, leaning around to the field outside the gym. It looked empty, but that didn’t mean the damn scientist’s mutt couldn’t hear him. He twisted around to lock the front door, hoping there wasn’t some poor lost soul still trapped in there (he was pretty sure there wasn’t, since he’d met almost every goddamn dead end trying to crawl his fucking way to freedom) and when he turned back toward the road he had expected the pokemon to be sitting there, waiting for him. Hanji’s mutts knew him well and never seemed to miss the chance to bother him, but instead the overgrown mangy fire mutt pokemon was nowhere to be found.

What was there instead was a flame spiral licking its way out of the forest, more than likely originating from one of the cliff edges, bright and familiar in the cooling spring afternoon.

“Or we could do that,” Levi muttered, rolling his eyes. His Talonflame had apparently already found the damn thing. Levi wondered if his comment about getting Houndoom to find it had offended his surprisingly emotional companion. He hoped not, but with his dumb luck (and stupid mouth) it probably had.

 _Thank fuck_ , he thought despite the previous train of thought. The hard part was already done with.

 

“Just once,” Levi gasped, almost thirty minutes later as he clung near the top of the cliff side where his Talonflame’s signal was coming from. “Just fucking once I’d like something to be as easy as I think it’ll be.”

Once upon a time, before Levi had been talked into becoming a gym leader by Erwin (who he was still considering pushing off a roof or something, just because someone had to, eventually, and why shouldn’t it be him again?) Levi had scaled cliffs like this all the time. He had travelled as far as he could, up and down the world, across deserts and through forests and over mountains and, well, it had been easy. Now, however, he had spent two year thinking he was getting enough exercise in his gym, climbing the dumb stairs every day, but apparently he had been wrong. Very, very wrong.

His arms shook and his fingers ached and his toes scrambled against the rock surface, too desperate to keep his heart calm. He wasn’t sure how far he was from the top anymore, but he knew that if he let go at this height he was going to break something important, like his fucking neck. It would have been so much easier just to have grabbed another pokeball from the back room before he left and had someone fly him up here, but he hadn’t thought of that until he’d already started climbing. And his Talonflame, as usual, had left him to work through the worst of it himself.

Spoiled stupid thing, his pokemon.

(But god, he loved her.)

“I swear this used to be _so much easier_ ,” Levi grumbled, tipping his head back to check how far he was from the top. Only instead of rock his eyes met skin, warm and tan and so close to his nose; skin that was stretched over scarred knuckles and across a rough palm. There was a hand reaching for him, which was connected to a thick wrist, which was connected to a strong forearm, which was connected to an equally thick and (distracting) strong looking bicep, which…

Which, upon a second’s consideration, looked slightly familiar.

 _Oh no,_ Levi thought, fingers twitching. _Please, if there is anyone out there who loves me, please tell me it’s not-_

Levi looked up as far as he could, leaning a little bit away from his full-body plaster against the rock wall. The sun was in his eyes, but there was no mistaking the figure leaning over the edge of the cliff, extending him a hand down. Bright green eyes met his, eyes he had only seen up close one other time.

 _Yep_ , he thought, half tempted to let go of the cliff and plummet to his demise. _It’s him._

The cute pokemon trainer he’d been crushing on for the last month like a fucking creep was hunched over trying to help him. Levi wanted to die, because the sun was framing him like a halo and also casting delicious light on the way his shoulders and arms were built of fucking muscle. He was even more mouth-wateringly, knee-knockingly attractive up close.

_Fuck me._

“I’m gonna kill that fucking Jigglypuff,” Levi blurted out, like a complete fucking lunatic, right in the trainer’s face.

The gorgeous trainer (who had spent three weeks training outside the windows of the arena only to come in last week and _ask for fucking directions to the Poke Center_ instead of, oh, Levi didn’t know, _staying and kicking Levi’s ass in a battle so that he could finally ask him to dinner_ ) looked startled and more than a little horrified at Levi’s statement. While the urge to let go and drop out of embarrassment was strong, Levi resisted, instead lunging up to take the offered hand before it was retracted. The trainer (whose name was Eren, which Levi knew thanks to Hanji and their stupid snooping which had never before been so useful or embarrassing) hauled Levi up in one smooth muscle-rippling heave, which left Levi panting and pink in the face in a way completely unrelated to the grueling climb up the cliff.

A quick glance around the rocky surface revealed that his Talonflame was indeed up here, as well as a Cubone (which was smaller and far more angry looking than any other Cubone Levi had ever seen) and a tiny, bug eyed Jigglypuff.

_Gotcha._

“You’re the gym leader,” Eren said suddenly, sounding completely different from how he had the week before, stumbling a little as he asked for directions. This tone was more direct and focused, with some kind of confrontation lurking just under the surface.

It made Levi shudder in a way he hoped wasn’t too noticeable. His Talonflame’s snuffle-chirp of amusement led him to believe it was. _Fucking fuck._ Just his goddamn luck. 

“Yeah,” Levi responded automatically, not glancing away from the Jigglypuff that was beginning to cower under his glare. “And you’re the guy who couldn’t find the fucking Poke Center last week.”

Hanji was going to get a kick out of this. Isabel would probably kick him. Erwin was going to laugh hard enough to knock his eyebrows off his face.

Levi hated his fucking life.

Levi glanced up just in time to see Eren sputter, some kind of protective anger most likely brought on by the (empty) threat to the Jigglypuff’s life warring with a slight flush that Levi hoped was from embarrassment. At least if they were both embarrassed it would be equal footing.

“Why are you after this Jigglypuff,” Eren asked, even more direct than Levi imagined him to be. Another thrill chased down his spine as his mind took that directness and applied it to other aspects. He shut that train of thought down as hard and fast as he could (bad choice of words, bad choice of words) but the thought of what it’d be like, Eren’s hands on his hips, Eren’s breath against his face, lingered.

“Because I need it,” Levi said, cutting off abruptly as he realized that was the kind of shit fucking kidnappers said. He bit his tongue, flinching as the pain traced back into his mouth and down his spine. _Fuck._ “No, shit, I mean-”

Something rustled in one of the trees at the edge of the rocky outcropping. Levi wasn’t too worried about it, since the wild pokemon that did roam freely in the area weren’t usually aggressive, but a feeling like dread rattled down his spine anew when his Talonflame took to the air with a screech that set every nerve ending Levi had into panic overdrive.

“Shit,” he muttered, craning his head as his girl spread her wings and circled directly over head. “We need to move.”

“What,” Eren said, glancing over at the trees. He took a step toward the fucking things, his tall broad shouldered (but surprisingly still very slim and fuck this wasn’t the time to notice that but Levi couldn’t help himself) frame blocking the rustling leafs from view. “What’s going on-“

The bushes erupted just as his Talonflame swooped, trying to cut them off, but there were too many of them. Levi lunged forward, curling his fingers into the back of Eren’s t-shirt and hauling him back, behind him as the leafs of the bushes licked into flame. 

The flames, instead of keeping them back, trapped the wild pokemon on the rock with them. _Great._

“Goddammit,” Levi muttered, dragging the startled trainer behind him. He should have fucking known, it was _spring_ after all.

“I fucking hate Mankeys packs,” Levi growled. There were more of them than there usually were, but considering it was mating season for the fuckers Levi wasn’t all that surprised. He gritted his teeth as Eren started to swear behind him, eyes darting up above him where his girl was still circling. He opened his mouth to shout an instruction when two of the fucking things lunged, heading not for them but for the Cubone and Jigglypuff.

“ _Shit_ ,” Levi shouted, darting forward. The Cubone lunged to meet one of the Mankey but the other darted around him, heading straight for the little runt of a baby Jigglypuff Isabel had left in his care. _Of fucking course_. The white mangy pokemon barreled into the poor thing at a full tackle, shrieking and hollering, and there was a whirlwind of noise all around him as the pink puff ball arched into the air from the impact and tumbled toward the edge of the cliff. 

Levi leapt after it without a second thought, throwing himself down into a slide. He managed to catch the little pokemon against his chest, one arm curling around it carefully. His Talonflame cawed overhead, taking on that tone that Levi knew meant she was scared. With his free arm Levi scrambled to catch something to keep him from going straight over the edge, but the effort only got dirt under his nails and up his shirt. He went over without a pause, a little yelp tugging out of his throat as he did so.

Someone shouted above him, voice arching so that Levi couldn’t understand them, but he wasn’t really focused on the sound. He curled around the Jigglypuff clutched to his chest, heart thundering in his chest as he dropped to his death. He hoped Isabel wouldn’t feel too bad about this whole thing, even though it was completely and utterly her stupid pokemon’s fault. 

But Levi didn’t fall all the way to the ground, like he thought he would. He went off the far edge of the rocky outcropping above, which meant that instead of plummeting down the way he came up he fell down a new path. A path that was obstructed by another outcropping, only about about twenty feet further down the rocky cliff wall. Levi hit the ground on his back, head knocking against the ground. Pain bloomed immediately as soon as he did so, consciousness only clinging on long enough for Levi to hear his Talonflame shriek once more. This time sounding more pained than scared and Levi struggled to hang on, worried for his girl, before everything slipped into darkness.

 

“Hey,” someone said. There was a poke at his shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Fuck,” Levi groaned. Everything hurt. Why did everything hurt? He couldn’t remember. His head hurt a lot too. He tried to open his eyes, but everything was dim and blurry and far away, leaving him with a pounding in his head and a lurching in his stomach that he couldn’t fucking understand. 

“Hey, hey you’re fine,” someone said, sounding like they were hovering over him. “You fell, remember?”

Levi blinked, trying to remember. He remembered rocks and a warm weight cradled against his chest, dirt and more rocks and his Talonflame’s cry of pain just before he-

_Oh fuck._

Levi lurched upright, scrambling, heart hammering in his chest. “Brat,” he wheezed, slumping sideways as his equilibrium went crazy. Hands, warm and rough, caught him, straightening him and Levi repeated the name again, louder this time. “ _Brat_.”

“That’s kind of a rude name to call someone who saved your life,” the voice said. Levi felt something solid and warm settle against his shoulder, another body, and when he turned his head (slowly this time, because while everything was coming into focus it still hurt) he found Eren there, face only a few inches from his own. 

“Not _you_ ,” Levi snapped. There was too much pain in his everything to be flustered about how close Eren was to him, but he wasn’t in too much pain to appreciate it. Levi was pretty sure he could be missing several limbs and poisoned and still be able to appreciate how gorgeous (and warm) Eren was. 

Eren blinked at him, confused until his Talonflame landed in a flutter of ruffled feathers on top of Levi’s legs. He winced, since the girl had grown at lot since she’d been a Fletchling, but he couldn’t deny how good it felt to have her in his lap, safe and sound.

“You nicknamed your pokemon _Brat_ ,” Eren muttered, obviously bemused. Levi felt his cheeks heat a little, proving that apparently he was wrong and no amount of pain could keep him from being embarrassed about this fiasco. 

How nice.

(Not.)

“She earned the nickname, trust me,” Levi muttered back, wincing as he lifted his arm to drop his hand on top of Brat’s head. She didn’t so much roll her eyes at him (she wasn’t able to), but she blinked, long and slow, tipping her head to one side and then leaning forward to peck (gently) at his shoulder. He winced, because it still hurt.

“Yeah, yeah,” Levi muttered, ducking his head to press his nose against her neck. “I’ll leave the flying to you next time, yeah?”

She cawed softly in his ear, nuzzling him as sweetly as she used to as a young little Fletchling. Levi felt his chest clench with a warm burst of fondness and he dragged his fingers carefully down her back, digging into the red and yellow feathers she couldn’t easily preen clean. Levi felt the body against his side shift, scooting over to give Levi some personal space, and honestly he mourned the lost contact. But it did bring to mind something else, in a roundabout kind of way, and he peeked open an eye and glanced around.

“Angel Cake,” he called, clearing his throat in surprise when his Brat ducked even closer and burrowed under his chin. Needy little thing. “Angel Cake?”

“Uh, are you talking to me…?”

Levi’s cheeks went warm again and this time the heat seeped all the way down his neck. “ _Not you_ ,” he hissed, flustered, twisting despite the pain in his back (at least he could move, it meant he wasn’t paralyzed, thank fuck) to eye the rocky landing around them. It was sunset and growing darker by the second, but the little pudgy thing still wasn’t hard to spot.

“Come here,” he said, reaching out his other hand to the young Jigglypuff. It was pressed against the Cubone’s side, small and fat and only slightly adorable as it pointed big terrified eyes in his direction. He wanted to sigh, but breathing that deeply hurt.

“I’m not mad at you,” he promised, “so come on.” 

There was a moment of stillness, where Eren muttered _oh my god_ in this sort of delighted voice as he put two and two together that made Levi even more embarrassed to be alive. But then the little puff bounded toward him and flung itself into his lap, wriggling in against his big dumb Brat like it belonged there. Levi winced at the impact, knowing that his back had to be as purple as a fucking Gengar from the fall. His head still rung too and focusing took effort, which meant he probably also had a concussion. He wasn’t sure though, since surprisingly enough he’d never had a concussion before. He’d done a lot of stupid shit, especially when he was young as hell, so he felt like he should have had a concussion by now. Maybe today was his lucky day.

“Yeah, shithead, I’m happy you’re okay too,” Levi grumbled, wrapping his arm around the bouncing wriggling pink annoyance in his lap. The thing muttered against his chest, incoherent as his brain zoned out, eyes drifting from the pokemon in his lap to where Eren was sitting, arms draped over his knees only a few inches away.

In the setting sun Eren was strangely real. Levi hadn’t been this close to him, not even when Petra had called him down to give him directions, and it was strangely unsettling. Usually there was a pane of glass and dozens of feet between them, Levi watching him move and laugh and go about his day without Eren noticing. But now he was so close, so very human and alive, and he glanced at him through his lashes, trying to study him without being caught. Eren was distracted by his own pokemon, which was shuffling at his side, bone clutched in its hand as the Cubone watched the pile of affectionate pokemon in Levi’s lap with a strange expression. Levi watched as a smile tugged Eren’s lips wide, white teeth peeking out, crinkles showing in the corners of his green eyes as he reached out to tug his Cubone into a hug, ruffling his hand down the pokemon’s back affectionately when the little thing looked up at him. 

_Fuck_ , Levi thought, for what had to be the millionth time that day. Why couldn’t Eren have battled him last week and beaten him so Levi could have asked him out? He refused to ask the kid out before he beat him, because he wasn’t going to deal with relationship issues while battling. It wasn’t how Levi worked. There was his business running the gym and then there was his personal business outside of the gym. The two wouldn’t mix, not if Levi could fucking help it. Though now he felt his resolve growing weak, his heart startling to thunder as his tongue tied with six simple little words. 

_Will you go out with me?_

Levi felt his mouth opening, tongue curling around the words, dizzy with anticipation, but just as he found his voice there was a swooping noise in the growing darkness and a shape descended from the sky.

“Eren,” the girl astride the Salamence said, terse and angry. She was just as startling at the large blue and purple dragon type she rode in on and Levi jolted at the sound of her voice. Eren’s head jerked up to look at her, shoulders shrugging as he grinned, easy and crooked up at the dark haired trainer who knew him. Levi felt a little bubble of envy in his chest, tight and dark and aching around the edges. 

“Hey,” Eren said, standing up, dusting his pants as he stood. “What’re you doing out here?”

“Jean said you hadn’t come back yet,” the girl said. The pokemon landed with a thud on the very edge of the rocky outcropping, which was a little worrisome, but the girl swung down without a pause, fearless in her movements. “I checked the field outside the gym, but you weren’t there, so I took to the sky.” She glanced over, scanning the area, only to come to a halt, eyebrows arching toward her hairline as she spotted Levi on the ground, cuddling his Talonflame and his sister’s Jigglypuff.

“Hello,” she said, face doing something strange. “You’re the gym leader, right?”

“Yeah, hi,” Levi said, a small feeling of déjà vu coming over him. Eren had said the same thing. “I’m the fucking gym leader, nice to meet you.”

The girl’s face did something else strange, nose scrunching in distaste. Levi figured he should maybe be worried about offending his crush’s girlfriend or whatever, but he was too fucking tired to care. Besides Eren laughed, a rough shoulder shaking sound that flooded Levi with warmth from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. 

“Stop glaring,” Eren told the girl, grinning as the sun disappeared completely and left them in twilight. “He’s had a rough day, so he’s allowed a bit of grumpiness, alright?”

“Grumpiness,” Levi echoed, his nose scrunching up this time. Against his neck his Talonflame huffed in amusement. “Let’s see you fall off a fucking cliff and come out in a sunshine mood, _brat_.”

It took Eren whirling to look at him, eyes wide (and cheeks maybe a little pink? Levi could dream, alright) to realize what he’d done. He’d called Eren by the nickname for his favorite and oldest companion. Like. Like some kind of idiotic attempt at flirting. 

_Oh my god. Why couldn’t the fall have killed me?_

His Brat seemed disinclined to share her nickname and pecked at the back of his shoulder, drawing a wince out of him. He directed his attention down at his lap full of pokemon, fingers dragging through her feathers with a muttered apology. He tickled at the Angel Cakes’s sides too, just so the little thing wouldn’t feel left out, and the pink puff squirmed in delight, giggles bubbling out of its little mouth. He didn’t look back up until Eren appeared at the edge of his boots, bending down with another offered hand. The girl was back on the Salamence, head craned back toward where Levi figured the town was, her pokemon shifting restless at the edge of the cliff. 

“Sorry about her,” Eren muttered, low but not low enough the girl probably couldn’t hear him. “My sister’s kind of intense.”

Levi blinked at the offered hand. _Sister_. He hated how much better that made him feel. Christ, he needed a drink. Like a fucking glass of water or something, goddamn. He reached out to take the hand, curling his arm around Angle Cake as he stood. Brat leapt off his lap, taking to the air with a drag of claws against his thigh and beat of wings beside Levi’s head. He grunted, staggering a little, but Eren steadied him, holding his hand and reaching for his opposite shoulder in case Levi fell.

“She can be as intense as she wants as long as she gets me off this cliff,” Levi muttered back. Eren laughed again, which made Levi stagger, and together, somehow, they managed to get on the back of the huge dragon pokemon. The girl (Mikasa, apparently, according to the mutter shoved in his direction as he swung a leg over and tried to hide his wince) sat in front of Levi and Eren sat behind him. The Cubone was in Eren’s lap, pressed between his chest and Levi’s poor abused back, and Angel Cake was tucked between Levi’s chest and Mikasa’s back. It was kind of awkward, given there were three people on a pokemon used to only carrying one, and before they took off Mikasa sighed, muttering that this wasn’t going to work.

“Eren,” she said, this time sounding slightly apologetic. She didn’t say anything else, but Eren seemed to understand her, sighing just behind Levi’s head.

“Sorry,” Eren muttered back. There was a scrambling set of claws against Levi’s thigh and hip and then the Cubone was in his lap too, squeezing in beside little Angel Cake like it belonged there. Which was a dangerous thought; probably the most dangerous thought Levi had all day.

Or it was until Eren suddenly scooted so that his front was pressed to Levi’s back, pulling a line of fire down his spine and a noise like a wounded creature out of his mouth. Because it hurt, yes, but it was Eren, pressed against him, hips against his ass and upper body molded so that he could wrap his arms around Levi and curl his fingers around the spike on the Salamence’s back, which meant that it hurt but in a kind of fucked up hot way. 

“You okay,” Eren asked in his ear, sounding worried and a little strained. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“Just get me on the ground,” Levi growled. _Before I pop the most horrifying boner of my life_ , he added in his head. Before that could become an even worse reality Mikasa clicked her tongue at the Salamence and it stepped off the cliff side and into the air, even more fluid than Brat was overhead.

Levi hadn’t been flying like this in ages and he wished he could properly enjoy it. Most of the joy of being so high up in the air was robbed from him due to pain and the distraction of having Eren breathing down his neck. They were landing on the road in front of the Poke Center within minutes that passed like seconds, the thud of which nearly knocked Levi off the pokemon’s back, since he was so much more concerned with Angel Cake and the Cubone in his arms. Eren kept him upright, though, which meant Levi was pink cheeked and breathless when Mikasa slipped from in front of him and landed lightly on her feet. 

Levi tried to follow her next, but Eren swung down from behind him before he could, landing with a hop on the ground before turning, both hands extended toward Levi. The Cubone hopped out of his lap and into the waiting arms before bouncing to the ground and without a pause Angel Cake joined it, bouncing off against Eren like it had always done that. Levi hesitated, not sure he could withstand the embarrassment, but in the end it hurt too damn much to climb off himself and he let the other trainer help him down.

Eren put his hands on his hips to haul him down, which brought back his earlier wondering. Now he knew what those fingers felt like, pressing into his bones, lifting him up, and _fuck_ , that was terrible, awful knowledge to have.

“Thanks,” Levi muttered, wincing as he straightened. Eren opened his mouth to say something back, but there was a noise behind him, like someone was running, and then someone threw themselves against Levi’s back with all their might. He screamed, the sound hoarse and choked in his throat as he toppled forward, vision going dark for a few seconds. Voices bled into his ears, probably Eren explaining, but Levi couldn’t follow what was being said through the thunder of the pain. When he blinked and found he could see again he was hanging limply in a pair of tattooed scrawny arms he recognized all too well.

“Hanji,” he rasped weakly. “What the _fuck_.”

Hanji sputtered behind him, shifting their grip to help him get his feet under himself. Their hands on his hips felt nothing like Eren’s. “How was I supposed to know you fell off a cliff and bruised every inch of your back?!”

A rush of wings and a shift in the weight behind him told him Brat had settled on Hanji’s shoulder. A weight pressed against his legs, warm and soft, and when he glanced down he saw Angel Cake there, gazing up at him with big bugged out eyes. He tried to glance up as casually as possible, but nothing prepared him for the way Eren was on his knees in front of him, peering up with big worried green eyes like some kind of fucking-

Thing. 

Fuck, Levi was too goddamn tired to wax poetry about gorgeous people on their knees. He just wanted to go to bed and maybe never wake up. He straightened slowly, Hanji’s arm around his waist and Eren hovering in front of him, straightening every gorgeous inch of his body along the way. Levi only came up to Eren’s collarbone, which was bafflingly attractive in a way that made Levi want to lean forward and be held.

It was definitely time to go home.

“No Nurse Joy,” Levi muttered, before Hanji could argue. “Just get me home, okay?”

Levi didn’t need to see Hanji’s face to know they were glancing between Eren and Levi like the least subtle person alive. He growled wordlessly at them until they sighed, shifting to sling Levi’s arm over their shoulder as Brat took flight again. The movement of his shoulder hurt a fuckton, but Levi distracted himself from the pain by watching the shift in Eren’s face, from confusion to worry to anger.

“You need to see Nurse Joy,” Eren said, stepping forward and into Levi’s personal space. Levi was too tired to even shudder probably at the intrusion. “You fell like thirty feet! You could have broken something and you’re just, what? Not gonna get it checked out?”

Eren’s sister glanced at him, adding her eyes to the set boring into him, until he knew everyone was watching him. It made him itch and so he gritted his teeth and spat out the first thing that came to his mind. Which was, unfortunately, not the nicest combination of words he had ever thought of.

“I take one goddamn step in that building and my sister’s going to know in a fucking hour what happened. And then, instead of staying where she fucking is and finishing her competition, she’s gonna withdraw, race back here, and fuss. Fuck if I’m messing with her biggest competition, alright? So get off my fucking back, already, and _leave me alone_.”

Eren stiffened in front of him and Mikasa scowled. Hanji winced quietly in his ear, signally that yes, he had fucked everything up with the stupidly attractive trainer he had been swooning over for a month. Fucking perfect. Levi lurched to the side, determined to go home even if he had to drag Hanji with him, but the scientist followed him easily, calling quietly for Angel Cake to follow them as they went.

Levi didn’t look back, but he didn’t need to see behind him to know Eren didn’t stick around to watch him leave. The door swinging closed behind them was more than enough information on that subject. Levi forced himself not to think about it later, when Hanji was clicking their tongue over the piss poor state of his bruised back, but the thoughts crept in anyway and lingered for days.

 

A week after the fall and Levi was still ginger, straightening slowly and tired all the time. Hanji had given him some pain meds he suspected were meant for large rock type pokemon, but they kept him mellow and the pain out of reach, so he didn’t mind. He battled at the gym, as usual, though Hanji accompanied him up and down to make sure he didn’t fall and break his head or something stupid, and while the hovering was completely and utterly the most annoying thing ever, the company wasn’t so bad. Hanji ran running commentary on all the challengers, sitting up out of the way in the stands with Angel Cake in their lap, which was amusing in of itself. 

Levi was finishing up for the day, sun setting and marking the end of another cycle of eager trainers trying (and mostly failing) to kick his ass. Hanji was climbing down from the stands, already chattering away about dinner (because he wasn’t even allowed to eat by himself anymore, which would have been a pain except the company helped the heartache Levi swore he didn’t have) when the door to the arena swung open and one of the other trainers in the lower sections of the gym stuck her head in.

“Hey, boss,” Petra called, glancing over at him awkwardly. He raised an eyebrow at her, rolling his shoulder and hiding a wince. That still fucking hurt. Damn. “We’ve got another one here for you, if you don’t mind?”

Petra wasn’t usually so hesitant about incoming challengers, which made Levi’s curiosity peak for the first time in a week. He nodded at her, glancing over to check on his Brat to make sure she was okay. The nosy pokemon was wriggling around in his bag and within a second was pulling back with her beak clamped around a super potion, eyes glinting sharply as she did so. Levi laughed a little, squatting down slowly to take the bottle from her and tip it into her beak as the far door open and closed again.

Hanji fell abruptly silent as the far door opened and footsteps sounded in the echoing arena. Levi felt a tingle of unease trace down his battered spine and he capped the potion bottle, tossing it back in his bag before he straightened. Part of him already knew what he’d find facing him on the other side of the room. Part of him still hoped he was wrong.

Eren stood on the far side of the arena, his Cubone at his side, eyebrows furrowed in determination.

Levi closed his eyes briefly and lamented his lack of luck. He heard the upper doors opening in the stands, the sounds of shuffling feet and hushed voices. He peeked up, seeing his four other trainers lead three people into the stands, one of which was Eren's sister. And then, as professionally as he would with any other fight, he looked over to Eren and stepped forward for the challenge.

 

The battle was two grueling hours long and not a single person in their impromptu audience made a peep the entire time. Levi switched through every pokemon he had, saving his Brat for last, but it was all for naught. Eren won, his own chest heaving as if he had been the one taking hits and dishing back as good as he got, and beside him, shuddering and weak but chattering with victory, was his little angry looking Cubone. A platform shifted to bring Levi his collapsed and unconscious Brat to him and he scooped her up automatically, cradling her head before he gently placed her beside his bag and straightened. In the stands Eren’s sister, a shorter blonde boy, and a taller boy with ash colored hair all clapped with varying levels of enthusiasm, cheering Eren’s name with grins stretched wide across their cheeks.

Levi felt hollow as their cheering echoed through the arena. A week before and his heart would have been hammering, but since he’d fucked everything up that night he had no illusions as to what would happen now. He would give Eren his badge, Eren would leave, and Levi would never have to suffer the misery of seeing him outside his gym again. Things would go back to the way they had been before he had shown up outside the window, tall and tan and gorgeous and adorable. It would be better this way, honestly. 

(Levi didn’t want to go back to the way his heart thumped evenly in his chest, day in and day out, like he wasn’t affected at all by the world around him. Something about looking at Eren made him feel alive and he wanted to keep that, to treasure it like he should have treasured travelling around the world more. In the end it would be just another fuck up to add to his list, something else for Erwin and Hanji and Isabel and Farlan to sigh at him for. Their favorite stubborn human, they’d say, shaking their heads. 

Levi didn’t know what he’d do without friends like them.

Probably something similar to what he’d do when Eren left. 

How depressing.)

“Well, you won,” Levi said, words falling from his lips by route. Eren could have taken the path around the battlefield to reach him, but instead he hopped across it, jumping in large sure leaps from rock to rock across the chasms made in the ground. Levi’s heart thudded and he told it to stop, but it didn’t listen. Fucking traitor. “Here’s your badge, to prove your victory to the next guy in line, I guess.”

From up in the stands there was a row of snorts, as the trainers who worked in his gym and Hanji reacted to his abysmal winner’s speech. He shot the five of them a dirty look, enjoying the way Auruo shrunk, even if no one else did. Stupid Gunther and Eld had become immune to his glowers early on. It made them almost impossible to work with, but at least Petra looked sympathetic. 

Levi reached in his pocket as Eren made the last jump onto solid land again and pulled out the badge for his gym, which was a pair of wings overlapped, one side black and the other side white. The badge gleamed in the electric lights overhead and as Levi stared at it Eren came closer, until he was close enough that Levi could see the tips of his sneakers on the ground in front of Levi’s own boots. 

Levi picked up his head with a sign, staring at the other trainer’s shoulder so that he wouldn’t have to meet his eyes. He extended his hand with the badge toward Eren, but instead of taking it Eren curled his fingers around Levi’s wrist, his grip warm and careful. Levi jerked up to look at Eren, only to find his face was back in that determined furrow, eyes bright and so fucking green it made Levi breathless.

Levi only had a moment to wonder what the fuck was happening before Eren pulled Levi closer and ducked down to meet him halfway. Levi squeaked in surprise as their lips met, Eren’s other hand coming up to cradle his jaw lightly. His grip was soft enough that Levi could have pulled away if he wanted to, but honestly there wasn’t anywhere in the world Levi wanted to be but right the fuck there. 

Distantly Levi could hear the sound of everyone in the stands losing their shit, but he didn’t care. Eren started to lean back but Levi surged forward, standing on his tip toes and curling the fingers of his free hand in the bottom of Eren’s shirt to keep him in place. The kiss was simple, no open mouths or tongues or anything, just chapped lips against dry trembling lips, but Levi didn’t care. It was the best goddamn kiss of his entire fucking life, because he was craned up and arching with his bruised fucking back to reach Eren’s face and it was _perfect_.

Eren pulled back eventually, only a little bit, so that his nose brushed against Levi’s as they breathed. Levi opened his eyes, not sure when he’d closed them, and got to have the pleasure of watching Eren’s eyelashes flutter like a Butterfree’s wings, shaky and dainty before revealing dark green orbs. Someone in their fucking nosy ass crowd got louder and lewder than all the rest, but Levi didn’t care.

“Do you know how fucking long I waited for you to come in here and beat me so that I could ask you out,” Levi muttered, craning even more so that their lips brushed with the words. “Fucking pain in my ass pretty boy, driving me fucking _crazy_ -“

“Me,” Eren breathed, blinking and drifting back again. Levi wanted to fist a hand in his hair and haul him back down but didn’t. But only because it still hurt to raise his arms. _Fuck_. “What about you and your fucking _everything_. You _lounged shirtless_ outside the gym. What the fuck, Levi?”

Levi shuddered at the sound of his name from Eren’s lips, since it was the first time he’d heard it. The shudder traced his aching spine, jolting down his arms, and he knew that Eren had to know how he felt. How could he not, when they were bent and pressed together like a couple of rutting Mankeys? But _fuck_ if Eren’s voice curling around his name wasn’t the most effective knee-shattering thing he’d ever experienced.

“What the fuck yourself,” Levi mumbled back, mentally saying fuck it as he slung his arms around Eren’s neck to drag him down to a more manageable height. He’d live with the pain if it meant bringing Eren closer. “You fucking came in here and asked for _directions_. To the fucking _Poke Center_. You’d been here for _three goddamn weeks_.”

Eren turned pink in his grip, which was a nice thing to watch, especially up close. “Oh my god,” the brunette muttered, ducking his head. “Shut up, _angel cake_.”

It was Levi’s turn to go pink in the cheeks and he sputtered out a wordless noise of defense. He leaned back, intent on coming up with a witty comeback, but before he could the far door swung open again, this time with enough force that it hit the wall and almost swung closed on the person trying to enter. Eren jolted at the sound, but instead of leaping away he curled closer, arm wrapping protectively around Levi’s waist to haul him against his chest.

It was a sweet thought, but it still fucking hurt.

Levi yelped, surprised and a little pained, though he leaned into the grip nonetheless. It didn’t occur to him to worry about who the fuck was in his gym now until he heard the shriek of glee ringing through the rafters.

 _Shit_ , he thought. _Goddamn fucking shit._

“Oh. My. God. _Levi!_ ”

It was fitting, Levi thought, twisting to glower at his little sister where she was standing in the far doorway. This whole mess had started with her fucking pokemon disappearing and now, just as everything finally goes right, she bursts in and ruins the moment. Typical Isabel.

Behind her stood Farlan, who was carrying the first place trophy from her competition abroad, looking amused but worn. Levi understood the feeling well.

“Sorry,” Levi muttered, lips curling into a little smile as he twisted back to look up at Eren. “My sister’s kind of a pain.”

“ _Hey!_ ”

Eren smiled back, warm and bright as all fucking hell. “Your sister can be as much of a pain as she wants to be,” Eren said, more than likely deliberately mimicking Levi’s previous words. “So long as I get to take you to dinner.”

Levi narrowed his eyes at Eren, hoping the glare would hide how much that sentence made him squirm inside. “Deal,” Levi growled, making to detangle himself from Eren. Before he could get far, however, Eren swooped in again, pressing another kiss against his lips. 

“Deal,” the taller trainer breathed against him, noses brushing as he leaned forward, pressing them into another kiss. Isabel, the goddamn pain, whooped loudly enough that Levi could pinpoint her in all the fucking hullabaloo, but Levi ignored it. The only thing that existed was Eren, pressed against him, mouth opening slightly in their kiss and-

“Goddammit, Baby,” Eren muttered, pulling back a little. “Cut it out!”

Levi blinked. “Did you just call me baby?”

Eren turned bright red in his grip, leaning back a little as his eyes shot sideways and down. Levi craned to glance at the ground, but before he could there was something grabbing at his legs, little claws that dug into his pants as something fucking _scaled him like a tree_. He jolted, trying to shake it off before he caught glimpse of tan fur and white bone. Then he held still as the thing finished climbing him and settled on his shoulders, its skull knocking into the top of his head as claws fisted in his hair.

Eren’s Cubone was sitting on his (very fucking sore) shoulders like it had never belonged anywhere else. He was pretty sure it was nuzzling him too, rubbing the bottom of its jaw against the top of his head. Eren made a face, pulling his arms out from around Levi to reach for his pokemon. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, cheeks still pink, but Levi hopped back a step, reaching up to curl protective fingers around the Cubone’s little legs (not that it needed his grip, since the legs were already wrapped around his fucking throat).

“You named your Cubone _Baby_ ,” Levi said, his tingling lips tugging into a smirk. Eren turned a darker shade of red than he already was, sputtering as he tried to deny it. But there was no denying it, not with the strangely deep pleased rumbling hum from the body curled around the back of his head. He opened his mouth to tease him more, because this was too fucking good to pass up, when a noise behind him made him turn, his chest clenching as he spotted his poor Brat, who was rousing from her unconsciousness.

Eren, without needing to be asked, stepped forward and scooped up his girl with the greatest of care. He even grabbed his bag, slinging it over his own shoulder as he straightened, the great big flying pokemon looking small and tired in his arms. Levi’s heart did a flip at the sight of his girl and Eren together and instead of pushing the thought away he let it bloom into something warm and new and only slightly dangerous to his mental health.

“So,” Eren said, straightening as he did so. “You got a back door to this place?”

Levi made a face at him, the sound of everyone in the stands (plus Isabel and Farlan) making their noisy nosy way toward them. “I wish,” he muttered. 

He wondered vaguely that if they wouldn’t let him redesign the gym, if maybe they’d let him retire. Not immediately, of course, but there was a lot of the world he still hadn’t seen and maybe Eren could use some company on _his_ travels. 

It was something to think about, in the very least, and it wasn’t like he had to make a decision now. He glanced at Eren, finding the other trainer looking at him, pink cheeked and bright eyed and gorgeously _there_. He had time.

(Baby shifted on his shoulders, knocked his bone skull into Levi’s head, little claws digging against his jaw. In Eren’s arms Brat cawed softly and pressed up, wings coiling and uncoiling as she shifted to keep her claws away from Eren’s skin. Both pokemon were obviously exhausted, battered and ruffled and in need of a bath and some sleep, but both looked pleased in their own way. Brat especially seemed to like the way Eren dug his fingers carefully into her feathers, the same way Levi had up on the cliff side.

 _They_ had time, he amended in his head. To grow and change and build and bloom and evolve.)

“Shit,” Levi muttered, as something occurred to him. Eren glanced over, confused, and he scowled, dark and furious. “I’m going to have to thank my sister eventually for her shitty pokemon’s great escape, aren’t I?”

Eren was still laughing when the others reached them, but he didn’t explain the joke. It made Levi like him all the more.

**Author's Note:**

> alright alright alright alright. here it is, my boo's birthday request. about a month ago i wouldn't fucking shut up about how much i needed a pokemon trainer ereri au and so she went "write me it for my birthday", so i did. b/c i'm the best. 
> 
> and for anyone wondering, i picked talonflame for levi b/c a) flying type and b) please imagine levi with a fletchling they're so small he is so small it would be sO CUTE. and of course mikasa gets salamence, it's huge and boss like her. also it flies and i needed someone to fly them off the cliff lmao. 
> 
> anyway, i hope everyone (especially you, boo) enjoyed!!! C:


End file.
